An ESD protection cell is used to protect pins/pads/terminals of an integrated circuit (IC) from ESD events happening to internal circuitry between the terminal points and ground. An ESD protection cell positioned parallel to the internal circuit shunts potentially damaging ESD-induced current transients to prevent ESD damage to the internal circuitry. A conventional ESD protection circuit includes an ESD shunting circuit and an optional ESD trigger circuit.
ICs can include a plurality of Schottky gate field effect transistors such as HEMTs or MESFETs. Such ICs include high power RF amplifiers using GaN HEMTs for various applications, such as for wireless infrastructure applications in the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) bands.
HEMTs or MESFETs may also be used in ESD protection devices on ICs including a plurality of HEMT or MESFET devices. Traditional HEMT-based ESD protection devices provide their protection by current conduction current through a thin two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) layer (or 2DEG channel). Similarly, in a MESFET, current conduction is within a thin lightly doped (typically n-type) conducting layer of semiconducting material epitaxially grown over the buffer layer.